Quarantine centers Cebu City’s edge to remain under GCQ — Labella

Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella tours Secretary Carlito Galvez, Jr. at the Cebu City Quarantine Center. | Photo Courtesy of Cebu City PIO

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The quarantine centers in Cebu City can be its saving card to remain under the general community quarantine (GCQ).

This was the statement of Mayor Edgardo Labella after he led Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., chief implementor of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID), on a tour at the Cebu City Quarantine Center at the North Reclamation Area (NRA) on June 12, 2020.

Read more: NRA quarantine facility to open on Saturday

Labella said that Secretary Galvez was impressed by the quarantine center which had negative pressure rooms for the isolation of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) positive patients.

“In fact, he said he will be making a report to Manila at the kind of quarantine facility that we have. They were so impressed. They will be putting a good word for Cebu City,” said the mayor.

The mayor is counting on this positive report so the city may remain under the GCQ despite the rising cases of the COVID-19 in the city.

He said the quarantine centers were a physical manifestation that the city was on top of the COVID situation, and although the cases had continued to rise, community transmission had been minimized through the area-specific lockdown.

“We really hope that we will remain under GCQ beyond June 15,” said the mayor.

Read more: Mayor Labella wants Cebu City under GCQ after June 15

As of now, there are 40 patients being isolated at the Cebu City Quarantine Center.

The mayor reiterated that the city was not prepared for a modified GCQ because it would be too lenient for the public, and the city government would have a difficult time controlling the movement of the people. /dbs